Chapter 5: Innocence Lost

"Every action has a meaning, a purpose for which it derives from."

After six days of settling down in Charity, Lucky, Blitz, and I started work in the town. Lucky took up a guard job and I took over a engineer spot at the power station. Blitz started work as a secretary at Town Hall. Life was going great so far. We met a lot of wonderful ponies. We stopped by Stein’s house to check up on him and his son. So far the patient he has been treating has awoken and still stable. We never got to meet him for he immediately left town soon after being cleared away with Doc. Whipleash had himself a position as a foster parent for several orphans and “rejects”. There was another individual that stood out with high respect amongst the townsfolk by the name Cinnamon Twist, but we have never seen her yet. The town showed us in what short time we have been here that it is very independent and self-sustaining. The town ponies seemed to love it here out in the middle of nowhere, and were very tight-knit with each other.

All in all, an outside Stable. A home outside of home. A place of peace and rest.

If only we knew what stirred outside the boundaries of Charity…..

I walked into the bar the same I have done since I been here. I slinked up the flights of stairs, trudged down the hall, waving back and forth from fatigue, opened the door to see Blitz hard at administrative stuff, Lucky cleaning his work revolver, and I face planting into the pillow.

“Hard day today?” Lucky snickered. I turned to him with the best death glare I could give him my state of tiredness.

“How come nopony in this town knows how to properly fix a transformer to NOT blow up after every six hours?” I grumbled. Lucky just chuckled a little and went back to cleaning the barrel of his weapon. Blitz shifted through his papers. “How about you two, hmm? Anything interesting happen?” I asked, staring at the dusty ceiling fan hanging above me.

“Nothing from my end. Pretty standard day, like always.” Lucky replied, blowing dust off the slide of his gun. Blitz turned and slid off his reading glasses.

“Nothing out of the ordinary, but there has been rumors floating around about the mayor and his assistant having an affair. Nothing exciting.” Blitz cleared his throat and went right back to work. Old habits die hard, I guess.

I grunted and flipped over, reaching over to pull out my own gun. I sat up in my bed and pulled out my own cleaning supplies. I never got the chance to take full detail of my unexpected present from my parents. Stable regulations stated that nopony was allowed a weapon unless you’re a guard or you’re the Overseer, and even Blitz and father didn’t carry.

I laid the gun down beside me and pulled out the ammo, never taken out. The note still laid folded and neat, never been read. I grit my teeth and shifted to get a better light. I opened the note slowly, nervous and anxious of what it might contain. These were the last words to be said to me from my parents, after all. Lucky eyed me with confusion, but turned away quickly. I swallowed my fear and open up the yellow parchment.

“ Dear Elric,

My son. You have achieved a great deal since your birth. I regret not spending more time with you and your siblings. As you know, an Overstallion’s work is never finished. Even the littlest issue becomes our priority. You, Blitz, Kris, Melody, your mother…. You all were my greatest achievement. Now as the outside world has shown itself to your home, I have no choice but to tell you a secret. Along with this note is a revolver handed down through the last 200 years. It served your... ancestor... in time of War, now it can serve you in a time of need. Take good care of it.

Always remember these next words: “Tá an mbóthar go dtí ifreann pábháilte le dea-intinn.” These words have lead our way for years. First spoken by your ancestor, now by you. Remember them well.

The enemy have come through the corridor hallway door. We only got about three minutes before they come in and open fire.

We love you. Take care of Blitz and Mel. Cherish every day you have with them.

His name was covered up with a ink splotch. Probably happened when they kicked in the door. I wiped away a tear from my face.

“Blitz….” I whimpered. He looked over his shoulder with a concerned look. “Ya, L? What is it?” he responded. I handed him the letter. He took it up gingerly and read through it. When his eyes hit those words, they flew open. He continued through quickly and snapped towards me.

“He knew…. He fucking knew….” He quivered. He dropped the letter to the ground. I placed my head in my hooves and sat beside him. “How? How could he found out? We…. We never said anything about it to him or mother!” He whispered. Lucky looked up from his cleaning to see us trembling, looking at one another.

“H-How did he f-find out?” I gasped, wide-eyed at my brother. He just shook he head.

“U-umm… what’s wrong?” Lucky asked quietly, replacing the barrel back into the slide.

I turned to him and gulped. “We told you how we initiated the opening of the Stable, right?” He nodded in acknowledgment. “Well, it seems…. It seems Dad knew.” I looked down at my hooves, looking at the imaginary blood that was on them not too long ago. Blitz just trembled in the chair. Lucky picked up the letter from the floor and read through it. He cocked an eyebrow when finished. “Ta an mbother… huh?” he stumbled. He looked up at me. I closed my eyes.

“It’s a saying from an old language before the war. The origin is from our ancestral homeland called Pastureland. It was almost on the other side of the world, you could only fly or take a boat. It was an island near the old griffon kingdom. During the war, The Pastureland Militia joined the Equestrian front, pushing back the Zebra army off the land to the north. It was a massacre. Pastureland was razed to the last survivors from the Caesar himself. Or at least that’s the legend. The remnants just molded into the rest of Equestria, and never heard from again.” I replied. Blitz just stared at the floor.

Lucky cocked his head. “Oh… So what does it mean? And how did you think your father found out about the incident?” He asked. I took in a long breath and looked up at the ceiling again.

“The rough translation… ‘The Road to Hell is paved with good Intentions’.” I responded. “It’s been our family motto for years, I guess I never thought about it till now.”

Silence fell on the room soon after, all of us taking in the situation. It took several minutes for one of us to sigh. I turned to Blitz as he turned back to his work.

“Well, nothing we can do about it now. Apologize when we meet them at the other side.” He mumbled. Lucky and I turned to him, but didn’t say a world. He had a point, even if it was crude. I flipped over to my sidearm again. Lucky reassembled his and placed it carefully back in its holster on the night stand. I took apart the revolver with extreme care. The weapon came apart with ease, making me feel paranoid about it.

“Is it supposed to be that easy?” I sighed under my breath. I took out the firing pin and the slide and inspected every little part the best I could. I didn’t know a whole hell of a lot about firearms to begin with, but I learned a little more from books and magazines in the bar, and with a little guidance with Lucky, I managed a better view and newfound respect for guns. Lucky laid there and watched me do my maintenance. I cleaned the barrel and greased the slide. Lucky pointed out the check through steps I skipped and helped me out with putting it back together. The new polished Black .45 gleamed in the soft lamplight. I felt proud that I had a firearm for some reason, but I don’t really know why. I placed it back into the drawer and flipped over to see outside. The night rain seemed too somber this night. I felt foreboding.

I drifted off soon after. Lucky fell straight to sleep after helping me. Blitz climbed into bed a few hours after (He was never one for discretion). As he flopped into bed, I was woken up. It soon became hard to fall back asleep. I silently slipped outside to get some fresh air. The barkeep eyed me a little weirdly when I asked him for a front door key, but after a little explanation and persuasion that I wasn’t doing anything stupid, he relinquished the key. I put on my barding and slipped outside to the rain.

For the past week, I grew fond to the rain. It felt peaceful at times of stress. I closed my eyes and smiled, tilting my head to catch the rain on my face and mane. The night drizzle felt good.

“Well, it seems you guys settled in quite well after all that’s happened.” Came a very familiar voice from the shadows in front of me.

I snapped out of my trance to find Whipleash wheeling towards me underneath a wide-brimmed hat. I smiled at my friend and scooted over from my seat to let him sit next to me.

“Yes sir, thank you. We greatly appreciate what y’all did for us.” I responded in kind. I saw him snapped his head a little towards me, but seemed to catch himself. He waved a hoof away.

“Don’t worry about it, Elric. You needed help, so we gave it to you. We didn’t make Charity off of selfishness and paranoia.” He gave me a great big smile. “Seems you are rarely separated now. Must have been a hard time for you all to be so close knitted. Something tells me it’s a little more than a caravan raiding.”

I cleared my throat from the sudden forwardness. I admit that we never told them the real story, but now I guess it was an appropriate time to do so.

“Well…” I rubbed the back of my neck. “It all started with a dream…”

I explained everything to him from our stupid dream as children to the day we made our horrible mistake opening the Stable to the world.

“… and then the last thing I remember is waking up in Doc’s house.” I looked down at the ground with disappointment. “I understand if you think me as a murderer now. I wouldn’t blame you for it.” I heard his wheelchair spin closer to me.

Then I felt a hoof on my shoulder. I look up to see Whipleash smiling.

“We all make mistakes, Elric. Even very severe ones at one point in our lives. Look at me for example. I served in a army that suppressed slaves and beat them with chains, of course I didn’t do any of that, but I still let it happen. I felt like ending it myself until I met Cin. Now look at me, I’m a father to several children and a well-respected person. You can to, just don’t forget to never make the same mistake twice, right?” He removed his hoof away from my shoulder and patted my cheek. “You seem like a good pony. Remember that, my friend. This world isn’t made for the weak and evil, only occupied by the ones that choose to live that way.” He wheeled away back into the rain. “I only stopped by to see how you were doing. I hafta go find Cin and see what’s all the racket from the east side of town. Seems that there’s been some recent activity from the raiders recently.”

I looked at my crippled buddy with awe. This stallion was amazing, and he showed it. I picked myself up from the ground.

“Mind if I join you? Got nothing else better to do.” I asked. Whipleash just waved his hoof. I trotted up next to him and walked beside him to the edge of town, trading stories from our youth and work places. The more I found out about this stallion, the more I respected him. He seemed to go out of his way to help those in need, even in his condition. And this Cinnamon Twist character seemed too awesome to be real. We passed by shops and homes that seemed to be in some sort of business, but were all beat to hell. The rain seemed to start to strengthen as we made it to our destination. What we found definitely wasn’t what we were expecting.

Three nasty looking ponies stood over a mare, beating her with metal pipes and baseball bats. One of the bandits seemed to take great pleasure in it to, for he was getting a little too excited. We had to put a stop to it now.

Whipleash pulled out a gun underneath his blanket and aimed at one of the raiders and fired off a shot, putting a hole in his head. His buddies turned to us in a instant, allowing the mare to stand up and run towards us the best she could on what seemed like two broken legs. I grabbed her and helped her to the side, away from immediate danger.

“You two lost or something?” Whipleash taunted the remaining bandits. Both snickered at the cripple. Both tensed up and started to move towards us. I looked around and found nothing to arm myself with. Whipleash kept his gun trained on the two assailants. One put on a sudden grin.

One of the ponies suddenly threw his pipe at Whipleash, barely missing him. Whipleash fired off two more shots, also missing. The two bandits started to gallop towards us.

“Ah shit.” I sputtered out loud. I stood up and ran towards the thrown pipe. Whipleash continued his firing, but in the dark it didn’t do much good. I threw on my Pip Buck light to get a better sight to find one of the bandits right next to me wearing a murderous grin, catching me off guard. I caught a hoof across my jaw, sending me into the wet dirt. A chuckle came from the pony. I spotted Whipleash wrestling with the other on the ground little ways from me. I looked back to my enemy to catch a hoof to my gut. Searing pain came from my side from my still healing wounds. I looked over to see the pipe right next to my head. I reached for the weapon, but it was quickly recovered by my attacker. His grin grew bigger as he took up his weapon and bashed it against my head, causing me to black out for a split second. I knew if I didn’t do something soon, I would join my family sooner than expected. He swung again at my face, but I was now ready for it. I caught the pipe with my Pip-buck, causing the pony to pause for a second. Just enough time for me to buck him in the teeth. He flew back a few yards away, dropping his weapon next to me. I picked myself up from the ground and grabbed the pipe. The bandit pulled himself up rather quickly and charged me, screaming profanity and laughing hysterically.

I knew what must be done now. Kill or be killed. The rule of the wastes. I held a breath as he drew closer. Goddesses damn this cursed land. I grit my teeth and swung.

The pipe blasted the raider in the face, breaking his jaw and several teeth. He backed up, screaming from agony. I didn’t let up. I brought the pipe down on the raider’s skull, ultimately killing him. I watched in horror as his brains and blood pooled around his head. No time to get weak-legged. I turned to see Whipleash crawling towards his wheelchair, but the other attacker was gaining ground. He grabbed Whipleash and kicked him across the road. He raised his bat to put an end to my friend. Not tonight. I picked up Whip’s gun from the ground and Slipped into S.A.T.S. I put two hits to the head and one to the torso. I executed the command and fired the rounds into the pony’s body. He slumped ground, never drawing breath again. I reached Whipleash and helped him back into his chair.

“Nice shot, kid. I think we are even.” He replied. I handed over the gun and help Whipleash get the wounded mare back to Doc’s house. It was the longest walk I ever faced.

I killed another pony. Yes, out of defense, but still. And I did it without emotion. I got worried about the feeling. I felt no feeling as I put down two ponies like rabid dogs. Whipleash caught my expression and tried to comfort me and saying it’s the law of the Wasteland, but it didn’t help much.

As we got the mare into the house, I saw myself out. Stein and Whipleash thanked me and went to treating the wounded mare. I sat outside in the thundering rain. I closed my eyes and let the blood from the battle wash away with the peaceful water drops. I let myself smile. If I was going to survive, sacrifices must be made.

But it seemed the worst was yet to be seen….

Level up!
(Perk obtained. First Blood: Now that you took your first life, it will be easier for you to do it again. You have +5 more damage to ponies and feral ghouls.)